As digital photography and the digitization of old photographs become more and more prevalent, the number of digital images that are stored and archived will increase dramatically. Whether the digital images are stored locally on a user's PC or uploaded and stored on a Web photo-hosting site, the number of images will make it increasingly difficult for a user to find desired images.
To alleviate this problem, computer applications are available today that allow a user to categorize images using several different approaches. The simplest approach displays a set of thumbnail images of the user's photos and allows the user to enter properties, such as caption, date, photographer, description, and keywords, for each thumbnail image. The user may then search the entire photo collection by entering desired properties/keywords as search terms. Because this approach requires the user to retype much of the category information entered for each image, a more common approach today allows the user to associate category information with images through a program having a graphical user interface for sorting and categorizing images.
One example of this type of program is ADOBE PHOTOSHOP ALBUM STARTER EDITION, by ADOBE, San Jose, Calif., which organizes and finds images using tags. This program displays thumbnail images in one pane and a list of icons representing category tags, such as favorites, family, events, and so on, in a tag pane. To attach a tag to an image, the user drags the tag from the tag pane into the desired image using a mouse. The user may create new tag categories as well as create multiple levels of subcategories. Tags may be attached to multiple images by the user selecting one or more images and selecting one or more tags, and then either dragging the selected tags onto any of the selected images, or dragging the selected images onto any of the selected tags. After attaching tags to the images, the user can perform searches based on the tags to find images having matching tags.
Although tag-based programs, such as PHOTOSHOP, allow the user to sort images into multiple categories by dragging and dropping tags and/or images, these programs have drawbacks. One drawback is that these types of programs require the user to first individually select a set of tags before dragging the image to the tags, or to manually drag each desired tag to the image. This constant selection of tags can be cumbersome and time consuming especially for an image that fits into many different categories.
A second image categorization approach is described in U.S. patent application No. 2005/0192924 entitled “Rapid Visual Sorting of Digital Files and Data”, published on Sep. 1, 2005. This application describes a sorting program having a user interface that displays a filmstrip or timeline view of a set of digital images to be sorted. The user scrolls through using left and right cursor keys, which moves the image forward or backwards in the timeline. A currently selected image is presented during scrolling such that it stands out from the others in the timeline, such as by being displayed larger than the rest. Other images are displayed on either side of the selected image in an almost fully visible manner to provide context as those images immediately in time nearby the selected image. The user interface also displays category areas above and/or below the set of images. If one category area is displayed above and one below, then image sorting may be accomplished via up and down cursor keys, as indicated to the user by guide arrows displayed on the screen. By using left and right cursor keys to stop on a selected image and then using the up or down cursor keys, the user can assign a photograph to a category. If more than one category is displayed above and/or below the timeline, then the user can use the keyboard and/or can drag the currently selected image to one of the categories and release. Once an image is moved to a category, metadata regarding the category is assigned to the image.
Although this type of sorting program alleviates the problem of the user having to constantly select desired categories prior to sorting each image, this sorting program also includes a drawback shared by tag-based programs. The drawback has to do with the fact that for many users, there may be sets of images that may fit into many different categories (e.g., more than two or four). Although a user may be able to create additional categories, for each new category created, traditional programs require additional screen real estate to display each added category. After the user creates all the categories he or she may need, traditional programs may not be able to display all the categories on the screen at once. Patent application 2005/0192924 is silent as to what happens when the user creates more category areas than available within the window or screen area. And programs, such as PHOTOSHOP, which display a list of category icons, would presumably provide the tag pane with scroll bars to allow the user to scroll through the list of category tags. In this instance, the user may be forced to repeatedly scroll back and forth through the list of the category tags to select desired categories for each image to be sorted, which is inefficient and time-consuming.